Enemies: Golden Age the Red Skull, the Black Talon, the Black
Toad, the Black Witch, the Butterfly, the Coughing Killer, Dragon of Death,
Dr. Eternity, Dr. Necrosis, Fang the Warlord, Frankenstein's Monster, the
Hangman, the Hunchback of Hollywood, Ivan the Terrible, the Laughing Sphinx,
the Leopard Woman, the Lord of Death, the Mad Torso, Mother Wong, the Murdering
Mummy, the Reaper, the Ringmaster of Death, Toadman, the Wax-Man, the White
Death, Yellow Claw

Powers/Abilities: Excellent athlete and acrobat, skilled fighter,
master of several martial arts. His body is at the peak of human fitness
thanks to his exposure to the super-soldier serum. He carries an indestructible
shield, which he can use as an offensive weapon, throwing it with incredible
precision so that it ricochets of opponents and objects before returning
to be caught in his hands once more.

History: (Captain America Comics #1-?[between #44 and #51 - see
comments for Spirit of '76], Marvel Mystery Comics #80-84, 86-92, Human Torch
Comics #33, 35; Sub Mariner Comics #31; All Winners Comics #1-18, Young Allies
Comic #5; U.S.A. Comics #6-17, Kent Blake #12, ga) Steve Rogers was a
scrawny but strong-hearted man who was outraged by news reports from the
war in Europe and Asia. He tried to enlist in the army, certain that the
conflict would spread to America, but was rejected 4-F, medically unfit.
However his outspoken attitude against the Nazis attracted the attention
of General Chester Phillips, who offered him another chance to serve his
country. Rogers swiftly volunteered, and was handed over to Professor Reinstein,
a scientist working on a "Super-Soldier" process for the U.S military. Rogers
was the ideal test subject, because if he could be turned into a superman,
anyone could. The final stages were carried out in front of military observers,
and were an unqualified success; unfortunately a Nazi spy had infiltrated
the witnesses, and killed Reinstein, who died taking the full formula with
him. Since they only had one super-soldier now, the U.S. government decided
to make him a symbol for the troops and the people to rally round. He was
trained in acrobatics and combat techniques, and given a colourful costume
and codename: Captain America.

As Steve Rogers, he was made a PFC, and assigned to Camp Lehigh, where he
was placed under the irascible Sergeant Duffy. The camp's mascot, orphan
James Buchanan "Bucky" Barnes, soon discovered Steve's double identity, but
swore to keep it secret, and was eventually rewarded by being trained to
become Steve's partner. Through the war they fought Nazi agents and bizarre
criminals, but their greatest foe was undoubtedly the Red Skull.

(Invaders I #1-41, Invaders II #1-4) Captain America and Bucky eventually
helped found the Invaders, a team of Allied superhumans.

(Avengers I #4) Near the end of World War II Captain America and Bucky
were assigned to guard an airforce base in southern England. The German agent
Baron Zemo attacked, and captured both of them. They awoke to find themselves
strapped, about to be sent to Berlin on board the experimental plane they
had been meant to protect. They broke free just before it took off, and raced
after it on a motorbike, hoping to board it and prevent it falling into enemy
hands. As it lifted from the ground, both men leapt for it, but only Bucky
got a firm grip. Realising the plane might be boobytrapped, and that Bucky
could not disarm such a device on his own, Cap shouted to his ally to jump
clear, but before he could so it, the bomb detonated, killing Bucky instantly.
Cap's body fell into the freezing waters of the English Channel, and he went
into a state of suspended animation while his frozen form was eventually
washed to the Arctic Circle. Faintly visible as a humanoid figure in the
ice, he became the subject of worship from local Eskimos. Decades passed
until fate intervened to free him. Cap's old wartime ally Namor had recently
returned to adventuring, and wrongly blaming the surface dwellers for the
destruction of Atlantis, was on a rampage against all mankind. Namor came
upon the Eskimos, and threw their idol into the sea, where eventually Cap's
frozen form drifted into warmer waters and began to defrost. The Avengers
were trailing Namor, and took the body on board, where they identified him
and were astounded to discover he was still alive. Once he had recovered,
Captain America returned to active service as a superhero, and is still
adventuring to this day.

First Appearance: as Spirit of '76 Invaders I #14; as
Captain America What If? I #4

Powers/Abilities: Skilled fighter, athlete. Learned to copy the original
Captain America's shield skills (though not quite as accomplished). As the
Spirit of '76 he wore a bulletproof cloak; as Captain America, he had a replica
of the missing Captain America's shield.

History:
(Invaders I #14-15) Wishing to do more to help the war effort, American
William Nasland was eagerly recruited into the Crusaders, a new team of
superheroes being gathered by a man called Alfie. He was given a bullet
/ flame-proof cloak and a patriotic costume, and became the Spirit of '76.
What most of the team didn't realise was that Alfie was a German agent, who
duped the group into fighting another team of Allied heroes, the Invaders.
Discovering how they had been tricked, most of the Crusaders abandoned their
costumed identities, but Nasland decided to keep fighting the Axis.

(What If? I #4) Near the end of the war Captain America and his sidekick
Bucky were reported killed. President Truman, wishing to avoid a potentially
disastrous blow to morale at this critical juncture, ordered the disappearances
covered up, and asked the Spirit of '76 to take on the mantle of Captain
America, with former bat-boy Fred Davis as his Bucky. The two were introduced
to the rest of the Invaders by the President, and accepted into the team.

(Captain America Annual #6) In June of 1945, just before the war
ended, the new Bucky accompanied the Invaders on a mission to Japan
to destroy a prototype solar-powered tank.

(Namor the Sub-Mariner Annual #1) On 16th July 1945 Captain America,
the Sub-Mariner and the Soviet Union's Red Guardian were assigned to guard
the Potsdam Conference.

(All-Winners Comics #19, ga) Alongside the All-Winners Squad, Bucky
fought Isbisa, who was trying to commit "the crime of the ages".

(What If? I #4) In 1946 a plot by the android Adam II to replace a
young, up-and-coming politician with an android duplicate came to light.
The All-Winners Squad intervened, but in the battle, Captain America heroically
gave his life trying to foil the plot.

Comments: The exact changeover point between Captain America (Rogers)
and Captain America (Nasland) isn't clear, since of course originally there
was none. However, if we take the changeover point as being some time in
1945 (as stated in What If? I #4) and match that to corresponding real world
cover dates of Captain America Comics, then we get a run of issues between
#44 and #51 as our options. There's nothing really to support this, but in
the absence of something better, its as good a way of figuring it as any
other. The death of Nasland is a little easier to pinpoint: in What
If? I #4, which chronicled the death of the Spirit of '76 Captain America,
it was noted that he had fought Isbisa (as chronicled in All-Winners Comics
#19), but seemed to die prior to the Squad's battle with the Future Man
(All-Winners Comics #21) - given the publication dates of these two issues,
if we match that to the corresponding issues of Captain America Comics, I'd
say the changeover between the Spirit of '76 and Patriot came between #58
and #59 of Captain America Comics.

The Spirit of '76 was based on Quality Comics character, Uncle Sam. In 1976,
when Spirit debuted, Uncle Sam and his team of Freedom Fighters were owned
by D.C. A decision was made to have an unofficial crossover between Marvel
and DC's respective teams of wartime heroes. Thus it was that both teams
encountered a team calling themselves the Crusaders the same month in their
own titles; the ones the Invaders faced were thinly disguised variants of
the Freedom Fighters, while the ones the Freedom Fighters faced were thinly
disguised variants on the Invaders.

Powers/Abilities: Captain America is a superb athlete, his physique
having been enhanced by the supersoldier formula to bring him to peak condition.
His strength is superhuman, allowing him to lift around 1 ton. He also uses
a shield based on the World War II Cap's; this replica isn't as strong as
the real one, but is still bulletproof. He is an excellent fighter.

History: (Captain America I #234) An unnamed young American
idolised the wartime hero Captain America, and tried to learn everything
he could about him. He learned that the original Cap had vanished and been
presumed dead shortly before the end of the war, and when he went to college,
he obtained his American History Ph.D. by doing a thesis on his idol's life.
In 1953 he visited Germany to research the Nazi files on Captain America,
and was shocked to to discover what appeared to be the Super-Soldier formula
in a records storehouse. He returned to the States and offered the formula
to elements of the U.S. Government on the condition that he could be the
new Captain America. At first the government officials agreed, as they
desperately wanted a Captain America for the Korean War. The historian was
given access to government files, and learned the true identity of Captain
America; desperate to emulate him, the historian had his name officially
changed to Steve Rogers, and underwent surgery so he would look identical
to him. Then the war ended, and the government dropped the idea. Refusing
to be disheartened, "Rogers" took a teaching job at Lee School, where he
met and befriended a young orphan, Jack Monroe, who also idolised the wartime
hero. The two of them decided to become the new Captain America and Bucky,
and used the formula to enhance themselves. Unfortunately they never realised
their was a component of the process missing from the notes they used, and
without Vita-Rays to stabilise the enhancement, both men gradually started
to go insane, becoming increasingly paranoid.

(Young Men #24, ga) The (new, communist) Red Skull took the U.N. hostage,
and Captain America and Bucky made their debut to rescue the delegates.

(Young Men #25, ga) No synopsis available.

(Young Men #26, ga) While visiting Oaklake University to deliver a
lecture, Cap was injected with a virus intended to brainwash him into becoming
a Communist dupe. Bucky was horrified when Captain America appeared to turn
traitor, but eventually Cap revealed the virus had not worked, and that his
turncoat activities were a ruse to draw out the Communists.

(Captain America Annual #13) Shortly afterwards Captain America and
Bucky had a rematch with both Electro and the Red Skull.

(Captain America I #153, bts) Captain America and Bucky's paranoia
grew, and the pair began to act increasingly irrationally.

(Captain America Annual #6) By July 1954 they were attacking people
virtually at random, in the belief they were Communists.

(Captain America I #153, bts; Marvel: The Lost Generation #1) By 1955
the FBI had captured both men, and frozen them in suspended animation.

(Captain America I #153-156, 231-236) The two were awoken in the modern
day, and sent to fight the man who had originally inspired him: the Captain
America of W.W.II had himself been awoken from suspended animation. Both
were eventually defeated and returned to suspended animation. Their frozen
bodies were stolen by the villainous Dr.Faustus, who awoke them again and
brainwashed them. He set up "Steve Rogers" as the Grand Director of the National
Force, a racist organisation, which soon came into conflict with the original
Captain America. When defeat proved to be inevitable, the unstable Grand
Director killed himself.

Comments: As with the other replacement Caps, the 1950's Captain America
was meant to be the same hero who had fought during the war, and then alongside
the All-Winners Squad. With the 1960s revival of Captain America in The
Avengers this became impossible, as the new story of Cap being frozen
since the war meant he couldn't have been fighting against Communists a decade
earlier. Eventually it was decided to explain those adventures away by
introducing a string of replacements - and some of the dated and embarrassingly
jingoistic dialogue of the era was explained away by having this Cap be mentally
unstable.

CLARIFICATIONS: Not to be confused with

any of the other Captain Americas (such as John Walker of the new
incarnation of the Invaders)